Touch-sensitive interfaces are used in many devices to provide a user interface through with the user may interact with the device. Touch-sensitive interfaces include touch pads and touch screens.
Touch pads are typically flat, touch-sensitive surfaces that enable a user to interact with content displayed on an electronic device through finger gestures, such as taps or strokes, made on the touch pad. Touch pads are made from different technologies (e.g., capacitive sensing, membrane switches and resistive sensors) and can be used in a wide range of electronic devices, including on laptops and keyboards connected to personal computers, and as stand-alone user interfaces devices, similar to a mouse. Among other things, a touch pad enables a user to move an on-screen cursor in directions that correspond to the motion of the user's finger on the touch pad.
Touch screens are used in electronic devices to display graphics and text, and to provide a user interface through which a user may interact with the device. A touch screen detects and responds to contact on the touch screen. A device may display one or more soft keys, menus, and other user-interface objects on the touch screen. A user may interact with the device by contacting the touch screen at locations corresponding to the user-interface objects with which she wishes to interact. Touch screens are becoming more popular for use as displays and as user input devices on portable devices, such as mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and cameras.
Touch-sensitive interfaces, when used to control media playback in a media player application, sometimes lack the intuitive feel and/or functionality of dedicated media controls. For example, when used to control playback of media content on an electronic device, a touchpad is commonly used to move an on-screen pointer to engage responsive regions displayed as part of a media player application's user interface (such as a fast forward region displayed as part of an on-screen control bar). This is generally an inconvenient interface when compared to the rich user interfaces provided to control media playback in dedicated media player devices. One example of such a rich user interface is the click wheel technology used in Apple's iPod® family of media player devices. As is well known, the click wheel interface enables the intuitive selection and control of media playback using, among other things, circular finger motions and clicks. Other physical interfaces for media playback control include the jog/shuttle interface of DVD players, and the button-based interfaces seen on CD and DVD players and TV remotes that allow users, among other functions, to play media at normal speed, fast forward, scan (playback media at different speeds), reverse/rewind and stop media playback.
Therefore, there is a need for touch-sensitive interfaces that provide a more intuitive experience for users when controlling media playback in a media player application, including specifying varying media playback scan rates and scan directions.